Dolphin Won’t Be Traded to Navy

BOSTON — Yielding to pressure from animal rights activists, the New England Aquarium on Monday dropped plans to trade an aggressive dolphin to the Navy’s dolphin training program in San Diego.

The move settled a federal lawsuit filed last month by Citizens to End Animal Suffering and Exploitation. The group, which sought to block the trade, claims the Navy trains dolphins for hazardous duty.

Earlier this year, the aquarium arranged to trade Rainbow, an 11-year-old, 450-pound male, to the Naval Oceans Systems Research Center in San Diego for a partly deaf female dolphin.

The Navy center said it trains and studies marine mammals in underwater surveillance and other activities.

The aquarium decided to resolve the dispute by agreeing with the Navy to end the deal, aquarium director John Prescott said.

“We agreed publicly to take a second look at alternative facilities, and we’ve done so in good faith,” Prescott said.

The aquarium wanted to find a new home for Rainbow because he had become incompatible with its other show dolphins.

As part of the settlement, the aquarium also asked the U.S.Department of Commerce to speed up the process regulating transfer of marine mammals between licensed facilities.